Transcript Residency 1 Faculty Training

Counselor
Educators
Connecting with
Military Veterans
and their
Families
Kristin Vincenzes, Ph.D,
LPC, NCC, ACS
Lock Haven University
Lisa Weaver, Ph.D
Lock Haven University
Problem
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With the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there
are over 2.4 million veterans in our country
(Department of Defense, 2012).
Roughly 900,000 veterans are deciding to return to
college and use their GI Bills to further their education
(Department of Veterans, 2012); however, the
transition to higher education can be very
challenging.
Faculty struggle with how best to serve this
population. Similarly, the veterans struggle with issues
such as disability accommodations, course structure,
hurdles with enrollment, admissions, using their GI Bills,
and the general cultural differences between the
military and civilian lifestyles.
Learning Objectives
 1.
To understand the military culture.
 2. To analyze the challenges faced by
both educators and veterans while
attempting to attain a higher education
degree.
 3. To identify strategies for counselor
educators in their efforts to connect with
veterans and their families.
Statistics
(Department of Veteran Affairs, 2012)
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Roughly 2.3 million
veterans have served in OIF/OEF
Roughly 3 million family members, including
spouses, children, and adult dependents
Roughly 1.5 million OEF/OIF Veterans who
have left active duty and become eligible for
VA health care since FY 2002
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793,818 (~55%) Former Active Duty troops
642,704 (~45%) Reserve and National Guard
Statistics cont.
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Estimate of 40% of OIF/OEF veterans have a
behavioral health disorder
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Roughly 30% have PTSD
Only 50% of vets seek help
22 veterans commit suicide daily (more than those
killed on the battlefield)- suicide among vets not
enrolled in VA soared by 60% increase – one of
triggering issue was relationship issues
Divorce rates – roughly 3-3.7% depending on branch
TBI – over 260,000 diagnosed
MST – 1/3 women report sexual trauma
Homelessness – nearly 3000 OIF/OEF
Unemployment – 9% of vets in 2013
Disability – 29% reported disability in 2013
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900,000 service members waiting
Military Culture
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Shared beliefs = “Duty Honor County”
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Different Branches = different cultures
Shared sacrifices
Separations and reunions
Frequent moves – expect every 3 yrs
Mission first
Jargon/ Acronyms
Camaraderie
“Us” vs. “Them” (civilians)
Social Support Benefits
Rank, Class (Enlisted vs. Officer), Military Occupational Specialty (MOS)
Authoritarian style
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Group over individual
Hierarchy and discipline
Ceremony
Uniformity
Hard work
Commander notified when: Bounce a check, DUI, fight at the bar or with a
spouse, kids misbehave at school
Dictates personal life – permission to leave the area
Constant awareness of life
Non-traditional work schedules
The Family of
Warriors
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Pride and protect
A way of life – everything the family
does impacts the service member
The military is not family friendly but it sees the
family as an extension of the service member
Rules and standards
Authoritarian hierarchy
Sense of not being understood by others
Ability to adapt, cope, and survive
Independence, maturity, competence, selfreliance
New Kind of War
 Fewer
deaths –More wounded
 Different Warfare (IEDs)
 Face to face combat in urban
environment
 Emotional consequences
 Communication and media
 Frequency and duration of deployments
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Average now – 6-18 months
Deployments
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Characterized as having five distinguishable stages with distinct emotional
reactions throughout the stages - (Pincus, House, Christenson & Adler, 2001).
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pre-deployment
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Training long hours, anticipation of loss, getting affairs in order, physical and mental distancing, arguments
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“I wish you were gone already.”
deployment – 1 month after deployment
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Disoriented, overwhelmed, numbness, sadness, helpless, “Can I do this?”
Sustainment
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New resources, new routines, rumors, a sense of being “trapped” because they don’t want to miss a call
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“I can do this!”
Deployment cont.
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Re-deployment – as soon as the spouse gets
word the soldier is coming home
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Nesting, anticipation, excitement, apprehension
“Will we get along?” “Will he approve of my
decisions?”
Post-deployment – “1 year after the soldier
returns home”
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Honeymoon, loss of independence, anxiety,
need for own space, renegotiating routines,
making up for lost time, resentment
“Who are you?”
Stay-behind spouse pulls back from social
support
New Stages of Deployment
(Morse, 2006)
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Stage 1 – Anticipation of Departure
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Stage 2 – Detachment and Withdrawal
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Happy and hectic
Stage 6 – Return Adjustment and Renegotiation
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Resiliency but also mustering the strength to continue
Stage 5 – Anticipation of Return
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Burnout and fatigue with multiple deployments
Stage 4 – Recovery and Stabilization
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Numbness - Emotionally distancing b/w spouses
Increased bonding with fellow service members
Stage 3 – Emotional Disorganization
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striving to make memorable moments
Denial and anticipation of loss
Troops with combat stress are often irritable, guarded, and want to
be alone – families need to be prepared for this
Stage 7 – Reintegration and Stabilization
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Significantly difficult with combat stress/disabilities, Permanent
change of station (PCS), ETS
Challenges Faced by
Veterans
 Now,
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After (contains graphic images)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkWw
Z9ZtPEI
Issues faced by veterans
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PTSD
MST
TBI and MTBI
Domestic Violence
Suicide, Homicide
Substance Abuse, Co-morbid disorders
Homelessness
Unemployment
Physical Disabilities
Resiliency
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Deployments can actually promote positive well-being
and feelings of personal success
May increase:
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Maturity
Emotional growth and insight
Independence
Flexibility and adaptability
Coping abilities
Strengthening family bonds
An appreciation for civic duty
A sense of accomplishment, strength, appreciation
Communication, pride, and patriotism
(Barker & Berry 2009; Pincus et al., 2001; Wexler & McGrath, 1991).
Implications with Higher Ed
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Disability Accommodations
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Appointments made several months to a year in advance
Travel (Altoona, Wilkes-Barre, or possibly Pittsburgh/Philly if it is an
appointment with a specialist)
Cannot cancel or re-schedule
Type of rooms (exits, closeness of desks, loud noises, etc)
Course Structure –
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Military –
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very structured, tasks came with very detailed instructions,
presentations were to be done following very strict guidelines and
formats.
We also almost always worked with the same group (TEAM) for
everything.
Knew where to find information (manuals and references)
Academia –
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The world of the academia is basically the polar opposite most of
the time.
Required to work with a lot of different people.
Given a broad topic and told to go find all the information in
different places
Implications cont.
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Enrollment
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Time between acceptance to programs, filing
for GI Bill Benefits and starting a class
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Certificate of Eligibility can take 30 days to
process.
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The Veteran must get his/her paperwork to the right
folks at the respective college. If financial aid folks
don't know you are on the GI Bill (and which one),
they are not going to certify you.
Veterans Certifying Official - have to certify every
veteran at a school to turn on benefits for both the
veteran and the school. How fast money flows
often depends on how quickly the VCO certifies
people and how fast the regional education
centers take to process the paperwork
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For example, one time the process was not complete
until November.
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Long time without money - imagine the financial stress not only
related to books, but on Veterans, especially with a family.
Implications cont…
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GI Bills
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There are at least six different versions of the GI Bill.
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Sometimes they have a different application process.
Add in folks who are in the National Guard and it
becomes a gauntlet (state monies work differently).
Some monies are administered by the VA (GI Bills),
some by DOD (Tuition Assistance - Army Reserve/AD),
and then each state for Guard members.
Veterans must know what resources are out there to
help them decide - such as the county veterans
service officers, VFW service officers, the VA benefits
website, etc.
Resources for Higher Ed.
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http://www.onlinecollegesdatabase.org/onlinecollege-resources-for-veterans/
NEA - Ten Things You Should Know About Today's
Student Veteran - www.nea.org/home/53407.htm
Implications for Counselor
Educators
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possibility that today’s Counselor Educators,
counselors, and interns will work with veterans or
their families has significantly increased.
 The need for Counselor Educators to prepare
competent clinicians to assist veterans and their
families in a variety of settings has never been
greater.
 The need for Counselor Educators to be an
advocate for the veteran population both in the
community and on campus.
Educate the students
 Recognize
that the military is a cultural entity and
include this population when we teach multicultural
education and counseling practice.
 Discuss the culture, values and rules that are rich
within military veterans and their families.
 Help students to be aware of the experience,
resources and potential impact for those returning
from deployment and their families.
 Veterans issues’ workshops on unique areas of
concern
 Sensitivity training
Cont.
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Be knowledgeable of various issues/concerns and
able to identify them as they arise
Best treatment strategies for dealing with the
unique issues/concerns
In order to prepare students to handle military
experiences
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Personal research
Interviews
Experiences with veteran clients
Demonstrate a “willingness and desire to
understand personal military experience (Coll, et
al., 2011, p. 496)”.
Cont.
 Address
Vicarious Trauma
 Focus on self-care and wellness strategies
to promote resilience
 Teach the student how to assist with
developing and using professional and
personal support systems
 Model advocacy and professional
support and also self-care and wellness
Cont.
 Encourage
collaboration, consultation
and referral depending on concerns
presented
 Instruct students to remain up-to-date
with issues and treatment for veterans
and their families
 Be sure that the new counselor has
ongoing support and supervision
Educate the faculty
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Veterans issues’ workshops on unique areas of concern
collaborate with other offices to teach them about
working with veterans:
 Disability services
 Student affairs
 Financial aid
 Student veteran center on-campus
Sensitivity training
Understanding the issues, recognition of the population,
and methods of treatment specific to veterans
How to deal with other students who may not be aware
or sensitive to veterans and/or their family members
needs
Consider the Student Veteran
 Know
that not all student veterans will
want to self identify as such
 Listen and be aware of the veterans’
needs in order to validate the student
 Be ready to address issues related to
veterans or combat that may “come up”
in class
Cont.
 Provide
an orientation specifically for
veterans, to include counseling support,
financial experts, VA Certifying Official
 Set up a learning community specifically
for veterans with academic transition
programs to help them ease back into
the learning environment
 Be sure that sensitivity training is available
to all faculty and counselors on campus
Consider the families
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Rosen and Hoghadam (1990) studied 1090 military
wives and the impact of the frequency of the
soldier’s absence on the general well-being of the
wives.
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Results indicated social support was a
moderating variable for the wife’s levels of
distress
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Vincenzes, Haddock, & Hickman (2014) found
social support to be a mediator between
duration of deployment and psychological
distress during post-deployment.
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Not only can seeking social support be an
effective way of coping with deployment but
mentoring is found to be another protective
factor (Larsen & Kia-Keating, 2010).
Advocacy
 Work
with local VA hospitals and treatment centers
to provide students with training to help them to be
aware of wartime military practices and supports
 Provide education and experiential activities for
advocacy in conjunction with local VA in an
attempt to address and reduce social stigma of
mental illness and seeking services as a veteran.
 Invite veterans and student veterans to speak with
the class.
Cont.
“The need to understand and combat the stigma
associated with seeking mental health services has
been suggested as the most important goal for any
clinician seeking to provide services to veterans
(Hutchinson & Banks-Williams, 2006).”
Top 10 Things to know about the
combat veteran
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10 …Know a little about the war:
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OIF – Operation Iraqi Freedom – Started on March 20,
2003
OEF – Operation Enduring Freedom
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9…Returning Service Members often do not think of
themselves as heroes. Their heroes are the ones still
over there or coming home in a flag-draped box
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8…Service Member’s political beliefs are varied.
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7…No matter what the service member believes
about the war, they take an oath to support and
follow our Commander in Chief
(Woll, 2008)
Cont.
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6…No one can describe how hot it was while deployed in a war zone.
Imagine yourself putting on every piece of winter gear you own, in multiple
layers, putting a metal bowl over your head, turning your oven on to 120
degrees, climbing inside, and living there
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5…Never ask a veteran “Have you killed anyone?”
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Perhaps he/she did but wished they hadn’t
Perhaps he/she didn’t and wished he had
Perhaps he/she did but it wasn’t fast enough to prevent a comrade’s death
Perhaps it was accidental
Perhaps it was so many instances of killing he/she lost count
4…OIF/OEF Veterans often want to go back to the war zone
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They may feel they need to go back with their buddies
They may feel they no longer fit into American society
Desire for “rush”, “excitement,” “thrill”
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3…When they get home, they are exhausted – families and spouses need to
follow the service member’s lead
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2…There is nothing black-and-white about what happened to them. Do not
make assumptions about their experiences.
(Woll, 2008)
Cont.
 1…They
are not the same people they
were before they deployed but do not
assume that is a bad thing.
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More confidence
Better problem-solving skills
Deeper sense of gratitude
Greater sense of purpose
(Woll, 2008)
“A man who is willing to shed his blood
for his country is good enough to be
given a square deal when he returns.”
Theodore Roosevelt
References
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Bonar, T.C., & Domenici, P.L. (2011). Counseling and connecting with the
military undergraduate: The intersection of military service and university
life. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 25, 204-219.
Coll, J.E., Weiss, E.L., & Yarvis, J.S. (2011). No one leaves unchanged:
Insights for civilian mental health care professionals into the military
experience and culture. Social Work in Health Care, 50, 487-500.
Danish, S.J., & Antonides, B.J. (2009). What counseling psychologists can
do to help returning veterans. The Counseling Psychologist, 37, 1076-1089.
Dekel, R. & Monson, F. M. (2010). Military-related post-traumatic stress
disorder and family relations: Current knowledge and future directions.
Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15, 303-309.
Demers, A. (2009). The war at home: Consequences of loving a veteran
of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Internet Journal of Mental Health, 6
(1), 1-12.
Department of Veteran Affairs. (2012).
Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization among Operation Enduring Freedo
m (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation New Dawn (ON
D) Veterans. Retrieved from www.publichealth.va.gov/.../healthcareutilization-report-fy2012-qtr...
References continued
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Dirkx, J. M. Gilley, J. W., & Gilley, A. M. (2004). Change theory in CPE and
HRD: Toward a holistic view of learning and change in work. Advances
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Dimiceli, E. E., Steinhardt, M. A., & Smith, S. E. (2009). Stressful
experiences, coping strategies, and predictors of health-related
outcomes among wives of deployed military servicemen. Armed Forces
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Gerlock, A. A. (2004). Domestic violence and post-traumatic stress
disorder severity for participants of domestic violence rehabilitation
program. Military Medicine, 169(6), 470.
Hutchinson, J. & Banks-Williams, L. (2006). Clinical issues and treatment
considerations for new veterans: Soldiers of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Primary Psychiatry, 13, 66-71.
References continued…
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Lambert, S.M. & Morgan, M.M. (2009). Supporting veterans and their
families: A case study and practice review, The Family Journal:
Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 17(3), 241-250.
Larsen, J. L. & Kia-Keating, M. (2010). Resilience-based ecological
model of military family coping during deployment. American
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Lester, P., Peterson, K., Reeves, J., Knauss, L., Glover, D., Mogil, C., . . .
Beardslee, W. (2010). The long war and parental combat deployment:
Effects on military children and at-home spouses. Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49, 310 –320.
Morse, J. (2006). The new emotional cycles of deployment. San Diego,
CA: US. Department of Defense: Deployment Health and Family
Readiness Library.
References continued…
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Newby, J. H., Ursano, R. J., McCarroll, J. E., Xian, L., Fullerton, C. S., & Norwood, A.E.
(2005). Postdeployment domestic violence by United States Army Soldiers. Military
Medicine, 170(8), 643-647.
Persky, K.R., & Oliver, D. E. (2011). Veterans coming home to the community
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Practice, 35(1-2), 111-120.
Pincus, S. H., House, R., Christenson, J., & Alder, L. E. (2001). The emotional cycle of
deployment: A military family perspective. Retrieved from
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veterans, Journal of Employment Counseling, 51, 89-96.
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